George the Poet on Combatting the War on Blackness

Intelligence Squared

News, Society & Culture, Arts, News Commentary

4.2 • 1.2K Ratings

🗓️ 29 April 2024

⏱️ 51 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

As a performer, London-based George the Poet has helped elevate genres ranging from traditional spoken word to rap and grime over recent years as well as having become a well-known voice commentating on social issues. He has a popular BBC podcast, Have You Heard George's Podcast?, which won the Peabody Award. Plus, last year he curated the writing collection Part of a Story That Started Before Me: Poems about Black British History. This year he returns with a new book – a memoir – Track Record: Me, Music, and the War on Blackness. As well as reflecting on George Mpanga’s own life, it’s a study of broader issues including the cultural forces shaping the music industry and the inherent discrimination within wider capitalism. Joining him in conversation for this episode is Symeon Brown, the award-winning journalist whose work often focuses on how culture and technology interacts with race and class. Brown is a correspondent for Channel 4 News and the author of Get Rich Or Lie Trying, his book focusing on the influencer economy. We are sponsored by Indeed. Go to Indeed.com/IS for £100 sponsored credit. If you'd like to become a Member and get access to all of our longer form interviews and Members-only content, just visit intelligencesquared.com/membership to find out more. For £4.99 per month you'll also receive: - Full-length and ad-free Intelligence Squared episodes, wherever you get your podcasts - Bonus Intelligence Squared podcasts, curated feeds and members exclusive series - 15% discount on livestreams and in-person tickets for all Intelligence Squared events - Our member-only newsletter The Monthly Read, sent straight to your inbox ... Or Subscribe on Apple for £4.99: - Full-length and ad-free Intelligence Squared podcasts - Bonus Intelligence Squared podcasts, curated feeds and members exclusive series ... Already a subscriber? Thank you for supporting our mission to foster honest debate and compelling conversations! Visit intelligencesquared.com to explore all your benefits including ad-free podcasts, exclusive bonus content and early access listens. ... Subscribe to our newsletter here to hear about our latest events, discounts and much more. https://www.intelligencesquared.com/newsletter-signup/ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0	Sponsoring the show for this episode is Markey TV.
0:04.0	Markey TV is a streaming service with a difference.
0:07.0	It's bringing you the top tier of performing arts,
0:09.5	straight into your living room or onto your device.
0:11.9	So think dance, theatre, music, anything you might find in the
0:15.2	West End, Broadway or maybe a cool little experimental space too, but saving you the
0:19.5	cost of a few tickets as well. I've got happily a bit lost in their vast library of performances,
0:24.8	exclusive interviews and behind the scenes content. Choreographer Jonathan Watkins'
0:29.3	interpretation of George Orwell's Classic, 1984 was pretty cool and I love the dance piece
0:34.3	Sutra inspired by the skills of what is Shaolin monks and we've got a special treat
0:39.2	for our listeners Mark E TV offers three months of access for just 99P. That's right, three months for only 99P with the code squared.
0:48.0	Simply visit marquee. TV and use the promo code squared to dive into the world of arts like never before.
0:54.8	Bring the arts home with Marquis TV.
0:58.0	Or la la.
1:00.0	Ah, the finest, amber cent, bar fe.
1:15.0	Oye, you're moving mad!
1:17.0	It's Link's blue lavender from the new Link's fine fragrance collection.
1:20.0	Go get yours now and smell finer than the finest fragrances.
1:25.0	Hello and welcome to Intelligence Squared where great minds meet.
1:30.0	I'm head of programming, Connor Boyle.
1:32.0	Coming up with George the Poet, the social commentator, musician,
1:35.6	podcaster and of course Poet II joins us on the podcast to discuss his memoir track record.
	...

Please login to see the full transcript.

Previous episode | Next episode

Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from Intelligence Squared, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.

Generated transcripts are the property of Intelligence Squared and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.